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On the Internet, he’s a god. In real life, he’s an out-of-work 21-year-old, $20,000 in debt, living in his mom’s Westchester apartment.

Meet Christopher Poole, known to his online fans as “moot,” the mind behind 4chan.org, one of the busiest – and strangest – discussion boards on the Web. Poster child, perhaps, of the Internet economy, where you can influence the lives of millions and still not cover the rent.

4chan.org‘s users, and there are, on average, 5 million a month, engage in mindless, usually vile, nonstop banter that often percolates beyond the service itself with books, political kerfuffles and lawsuits.

It’s members have been responsible for such pranks as hacking into Sarah Palin’s e-mail account, interrupting an Apple Computer conference with the note “Steve Jobs just died,” and making over 6,000 threatening calls to church of Scientology offices.

And inside jokes started on the site’s “Random” message board – by far the site’s most active and grotesque – often become popular catchphrases and Internet memes.

“Rickrolling” was originally a 4chan.org joke; that is, posting a link with a false title (“sexy pictures of Uma!”) that send an unsuspecting person to a video of the ’80s singer Rick Astley. Astley rode the odd fame to a surprise appearance at the 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Tay Zonday, a strange-voiced singer of a song called “Chocolate Rain,” was made famous by 4chan.org as well; John Mayer eventually covered his tune.

And the term LOLcat – misspelled captions posted on pictures of cats; trust us, it’s funny – started on 4chan.org‘s “Caturday” posts. It spawned its own Web site, ICanHazCheezburger.com, as well as a book deal.

Yet Poole suffers in ignominy and poverty at his mother’s home, unable to make money off the influential yet unwieldy chatroom.

“I feel like I keep making it to the cusp of something,” Poole told the Washington Post. “Everybody gets really excited about the wealth that could” come out of it. But then . . .

Poole started the site while in high school in 2003 as a forum to discuss Japanese anime and manga. It was meant to be a sister site to the popular Japanese site 2chan.

But soon the Random message board – /b/board as it’s known – took on a life of its own. The users, known as /b/tards – ran amok, turning 4chan.org into a strange amalgamation of porn, thoughtful debate and elaborate inside jokes. One researcher calls it “the dark heart of the Internet.” Poole’s dedication to the site forced him to drop out of Virginia Commonweath last spring. He’s applied for jobs in everything from computers to marketing; no luck so far. He was wooed by the likes of super agent Ari Emanuel. Nothing materialized. He was briefly a consultant for a company in Boston, but the job fizzled after three months because the company couldn’t figure out what to do with him.

Meanwhile, despite its impressive traffic numbers, advertisers mostly steer clear of 4chan.org because it’s content is so weird; Poole is having to shoulder the site’s high server costs on his credit card. He had a contract with a Web advertising company, but he backed out because he thought the ads had tacky sounds and often diverted his users to their ad sites.

Strange considering /b/tards are some of the tackiest bunch of folks ever corralled into one site. They busy themselves by asking girls on the site to take their tops off; making fun of people they hate – which, if the anonymous posts are to be believed, include Jews, gays, African-Americans, and women – and typing undecipherable Internet-speak phrases over and over again.

But however vulgar, the users revere Poole, who they call their “Queen.” If only they could translate that reverence into some cash for the benefactor.

4chan.org‘s problem, broadly, is the same problem that plagues Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, even, to a certain extent, newspapers and blogs. It’s created a vibrant community of millions, yet those people aren’t buying anything, they’re not paying to be there, and advertisers aren’t sure about them. Tax dollars pay for the town square; what happens when the town square is a computer server?

Poole has created the world’s biggest basement, invited everyone in the world to come by and goof off, but no one even brought the chips or beer. The question is whether someone will hire him – or invest in him – before the credit card runs out.

“Theoretically, I should be able to get some sort of job,” Poole said. “I have no idea how to transfer my 4chan.org skills on paper.”